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Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: Essential Stories
A stylishly original collection of seven newly translated stories from the iconic Japanese writerThe stories in this fantastical, unconventional collection are subtly wrought depictions of the darkness of our desires. From an isolated bamboo grove, to a lantern festival in Tokyo, to the Emperor's court, they offer glimpses into moments of madness, murder, and obsession. Vividly translated by Bryan Karetnyk, they unfold in elegant, sometimes laconic, always gripping prose.Akutagawa's stories are characterised by their stylish originality; they are stories to be read again and again.
209 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 3, 2020
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2078 people want to read
About the author
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
1,319 books2,127 followersAkutagawa Ryūnosuke (芥川 龍之介) was one of the first prewar Japanese writers to achieve a wide foreign readership, partly because of his technical virtuosity, partly because his work seemed to represent imaginative fiction as opposed to the mundane accounts of the I-novelists of the time, partly because of his brilliant joining of traditional material to a modern sensibility, and partly because of film director Kurosawa Akira's masterful adaptation of two of his short stories for the screen.
Akutagawa was born in the Kyōbashi district Tokyo as the eldest son of a dairy operator named Shinbara Toshizō and his wife Fuku. He was named "Ryūnosuke" ("Dragon Offshoot") because he was born in the Year of the Dragon, in the Month of the Dragon, on the Day of the Dragon, and at the Hour of the Dragon (8 a.m.). Seven months after Akutagawa's birth, his mother went insane and he was adopted by her older brother, taking the Akutagawa family name. Despite the shadow this experience cast over Akutagawa's life, he benefited from the traditional literary atmosphere of his uncle's home, located in what had been the "downtown" section of Edo.
At school Akutagawa was an outstanding student, excelling in the Chinese classics. He entered the First High School in 1910, striking up relationships with such classmates as Kikuchi Kan, Kume Masao, Yamamoto Yūzō, and Tsuchiya Bunmei. Immersing himself in Western literature, he increasingly came to look for meaning in art rather than in life. In 1913, he entered Tokyo Imperial University, majoring in English literature. The next year, Akutagawa and his former high school friends revived the journal Shinshichō (New Currents of Thought), publishing translations of William Butler Yeats and Anatole France along with original works of their own. Akutagawa published the story Rashōmon in the magazine Teikoku bungaku (Imperial Literature) in 1915. The story, which went largely unnoticed, grew out of the egoism Akutagawa confronted after experiencing disappointment in love. The same year, Akutagawa started going to the meetings held every Thursday at the house of Natsume Sōseki, and thereafter considered himself Sōseki's disciple.
The lapsed Shinshichō was revived yet again in 1916, and Sōseki lavished praise on Akutagawa's story Hana (The Nose) when it appeared in the first issue of that magazine. After graduating from Tokyo University, Akutagawa earned a reputation as a highly skilled stylist whose stories reinterpreted classical works and historical incidents from a distinctly modern standpoint. His overriding themes became the ugliness of human egoism and the value of art, themes that received expression in a number of brilliant, tightly organized short stories conventionally categorized as Edo-mono (stories set in the Edo period), ōchō-mono (stories set in the Heian period), Kirishitan-mono (stories dealing with premodern Christians in Japan), and kaika-mono (stories of the early Meiji period). The Edo-mono include Gesaku zanmai (A Life Devoted to Gesaku, 1917) and Kareno-shō (Gleanings from a Withered Field, 1918); the ōchō-mono are perhaps best represented by Jigoku hen (Hell Screen, 1918); the Kirishitan-mono include Hokōnin no shi (The Death of a Christian, 1918), and kaika-mono include Butōkai(The Ball, 1920).
Akutagawa married Tsukamoto Fumiko in 1918 and the following year left his post as English instructor at the naval academy in Yokosuka, becoming an employee of the Mainichi Shinbun. This period was a productive one, as has already been noted, and the success of stories like Mikan (Mandarin Oranges, 1919) and Aki (Autumn, 1920) prompted him to turn his attention increasingly to modern materials. This, along with the introspection occasioned by growing health and nervous problems, resulted in a series of autobiographically-based stories known as Yasukichi-mono, after the name of the main character. Works such as Daidōji Shinsuke no hansei(The Early Life of
Akutagawa was born in the Kyōbashi district Tokyo as the eldest son of a dairy operator named Shinbara Toshizō and his wife Fuku. He was named "Ryūnosuke" ("Dragon Offshoot") because he was born in the Year of the Dragon, in the Month of the Dragon, on the Day of the Dragon, and at the Hour of the Dragon (8 a.m.). Seven months after Akutagawa's birth, his mother went insane and he was adopted by her older brother, taking the Akutagawa family name. Despite the shadow this experience cast over Akutagawa's life, he benefited from the traditional literary atmosphere of his uncle's home, located in what had been the "downtown" section of Edo.
At school Akutagawa was an outstanding student, excelling in the Chinese classics. He entered the First High School in 1910, striking up relationships with such classmates as Kikuchi Kan, Kume Masao, Yamamoto Yūzō, and Tsuchiya Bunmei. Immersing himself in Western literature, he increasingly came to look for meaning in art rather than in life. In 1913, he entered Tokyo Imperial University, majoring in English literature. The next year, Akutagawa and his former high school friends revived the journal Shinshichō (New Currents of Thought), publishing translations of William Butler Yeats and Anatole France along with original works of their own. Akutagawa published the story Rashōmon in the magazine Teikoku bungaku (Imperial Literature) in 1915. The story, which went largely unnoticed, grew out of the egoism Akutagawa confronted after experiencing disappointment in love. The same year, Akutagawa started going to the meetings held every Thursday at the house of Natsume Sōseki, and thereafter considered himself Sōseki's disciple.
The lapsed Shinshichō was revived yet again in 1916, and Sōseki lavished praise on Akutagawa's story Hana (The Nose) when it appeared in the first issue of that magazine. After graduating from Tokyo University, Akutagawa earned a reputation as a highly skilled stylist whose stories reinterpreted classical works and historical incidents from a distinctly modern standpoint. His overriding themes became the ugliness of human egoism and the value of art, themes that received expression in a number of brilliant, tightly organized short stories conventionally categorized as Edo-mono (stories set in the Edo period), ōchō-mono (stories set in the Heian period), Kirishitan-mono (stories dealing with premodern Christians in Japan), and kaika-mono (stories of the early Meiji period). The Edo-mono include Gesaku zanmai (A Life Devoted to Gesaku, 1917) and Kareno-shō (Gleanings from a Withered Field, 1918); the ōchō-mono are perhaps best represented by Jigoku hen (Hell Screen, 1918); the Kirishitan-mono include Hokōnin no shi (The Death of a Christian, 1918), and kaika-mono include Butōkai(The Ball, 1920).
Akutagawa married Tsukamoto Fumiko in 1918 and the following year left his post as English instructor at the naval academy in Yokosuka, becoming an employee of the Mainichi Shinbun. This period was a productive one, as has already been noted, and the success of stories like Mikan (Mandarin Oranges, 1919) and Aki (Autumn, 1920) prompted him to turn his attention increasingly to modern materials. This, along with the introspection occasioned by growing health and nervous problems, resulted in a series of autobiographically-based stories known as Yasukichi-mono, after the name of the main character. Works such as Daidōji Shinsuke no hansei(The Early Life of
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
October 31, 2020
Every time I read an Akutagawa story, it serves to reaffirm my love for his fiction. This new translation of “essential stories” brings some old favorites back to the forefront (and the front of the book) as well as barely enough previously unavailable material to justify its existence. While the stories themselves are essential, there is little definitive about the translation and selection. I applaud the translator for producing this contribution to the canon of Japanese literature in English, but how many centuries is it going to take to get the rest of the stories in English? How many hundreds of editions of Akutagawa will appear before a comprehensive collection materializes?
Only about 30% of the book was not readily available in English in the Penguin edition translated by Jay Rubin. I think it is difficult, if not impossible to outdo Rubin's renditions. Therefore, I refer you to those translations by indicating particular stories with an *. I won't say that the re-translations are in any way an improvement on existing ones, since I can't read the originals, but Pushkin Press has disappointed me countless times, and in the case of this project, I would have liked to see a lot more effort to chip away at the great dearth of Akutagawa’s oeuvre which has resulted from constantly re-translating his masterpieces and neglecting the lesser-regarded fragments.
The stories included are:
The Spider’s Thread*: A perfect story in the vein of a Buddhist fable.
In a Grove*: Possibly Akutagawa’s crowning achievement. With detective fiction still in its infancy, he managed to employ a unique approach to storytelling and the unveiling of wicked deeds.
Hell Screen*: Another masterwork. A dense and memorable magical tale worthy of Poe.
Murder in the Age of Enlightenment - finally something new is brought to the table. And it is a delight. One can easily trace the influence of Goethe in this tale, which is written in an archaic style, prefigures Akutagawa’s death in an uncanny way, and utilizes classical tropes and modes of storytelling to recount a seamless story of love, jealousy, and murder. Close to perfect.
The General - with a more modern feel in a style mixing the horrors of war and a slice of life of an army regiment and its enigmatic general, Akutagawa gives a distinct and effective literary treatment to deeply unsettling themes, combining at times humorous and breathtaking imagery, but most of all, it is a brilliant pastiche, displaying yet another new approach to the short story form. By evoking wartime camps and the moral struggles of the congregations of men trapped in close proximity to one another, amid the constant stress, the characters's strained emotions seek fulfilling outlets, and we are left to contemplate the ramifications of their peculiar attitude toward national identities.
Madonna in Black - Another poignant story dealing with the uncomfortable influence of Christianity within the early-Twentieth-Century Japanese cultural landscape. In a grim way, Akutagawa often explored the fate of characters torn between different forms of religious faith. He struggled with similar uncertainties during his trying, short career.
Cogwheels * - translated as “Spinning Gears” by Jay Rubin. An incredible feat of translation (by Rubin) and a disturbing and moving longer tale. One of my favorite stories of all time. Possibly modeled after Strindberg's Inferno and pseudo-autobiographical Occult Diary. A thrilling and perplexing must-read, but again too many translations already exist.
Overall any addition to Akutagawa's body of work in English is welcome. It is impossible to sum up the author's style but it is easily compared to Strindberg, Dostoyevsky, Poe, Prosper Merimee, Pu Songling, and Gogol though the reading experience varies wildly. I encourage you to enjoy this book and his countless other collections out there. More than any other author I can think of, Akutagawa combines the aesthetics of many literary figures, and perfectly fuses East and West, Christian and Buddhist sentiments, horror, comedy, tragedy, and lyricism. I believe that Akutagawa achieved the ideal expression of his soul in prose, and it is a pleasure to receive another dose of his work in book form.
Only about 30% of the book was not readily available in English in the Penguin edition translated by Jay Rubin. I think it is difficult, if not impossible to outdo Rubin's renditions. Therefore, I refer you to those translations by indicating particular stories with an *. I won't say that the re-translations are in any way an improvement on existing ones, since I can't read the originals, but Pushkin Press has disappointed me countless times, and in the case of this project, I would have liked to see a lot more effort to chip away at the great dearth of Akutagawa’s oeuvre which has resulted from constantly re-translating his masterpieces and neglecting the lesser-regarded fragments.
The stories included are:
The Spider’s Thread*: A perfect story in the vein of a Buddhist fable.
In a Grove*: Possibly Akutagawa’s crowning achievement. With detective fiction still in its infancy, he managed to employ a unique approach to storytelling and the unveiling of wicked deeds.
Hell Screen*: Another masterwork. A dense and memorable magical tale worthy of Poe.
Murder in the Age of Enlightenment - finally something new is brought to the table. And it is a delight. One can easily trace the influence of Goethe in this tale, which is written in an archaic style, prefigures Akutagawa’s death in an uncanny way, and utilizes classical tropes and modes of storytelling to recount a seamless story of love, jealousy, and murder. Close to perfect.
The General - with a more modern feel in a style mixing the horrors of war and a slice of life of an army regiment and its enigmatic general, Akutagawa gives a distinct and effective literary treatment to deeply unsettling themes, combining at times humorous and breathtaking imagery, but most of all, it is a brilliant pastiche, displaying yet another new approach to the short story form. By evoking wartime camps and the moral struggles of the congregations of men trapped in close proximity to one another, amid the constant stress, the characters's strained emotions seek fulfilling outlets, and we are left to contemplate the ramifications of their peculiar attitude toward national identities.
Madonna in Black - Another poignant story dealing with the uncomfortable influence of Christianity within the early-Twentieth-Century Japanese cultural landscape. In a grim way, Akutagawa often explored the fate of characters torn between different forms of religious faith. He struggled with similar uncertainties during his trying, short career.
Cogwheels * - translated as “Spinning Gears” by Jay Rubin. An incredible feat of translation (by Rubin) and a disturbing and moving longer tale. One of my favorite stories of all time. Possibly modeled after Strindberg's Inferno and pseudo-autobiographical Occult Diary. A thrilling and perplexing must-read, but again too many translations already exist.
Overall any addition to Akutagawa's body of work in English is welcome. It is impossible to sum up the author's style but it is easily compared to Strindberg, Dostoyevsky, Poe, Prosper Merimee, Pu Songling, and Gogol though the reading experience varies wildly. I encourage you to enjoy this book and his countless other collections out there. More than any other author I can think of, Akutagawa combines the aesthetics of many literary figures, and perfectly fuses East and West, Christian and Buddhist sentiments, horror, comedy, tragedy, and lyricism. I believe that Akutagawa achieved the ideal expression of his soul in prose, and it is a pleasure to receive another dose of his work in book form.
May 25, 2021
An interesting, occasionally confusing, but also very different collection of stories dating from post WWI Japan. These stories reflect Japanese, Classical Greek mythological and international literary influences known to the author. And additional influences of both Buddhism and Christianity.
Perhaps my favorite is Cogwheels, the final story, which appears to be a somewhat autobiographical tale given that we know the author died by suicide. The first person narrative is immediate, intense, jarring, scary in his increasing lack of control, his growing confusion and self questioning. The descriptions beg for intervention of some kind.
But lack of self control of various kinds is a motif that turns up in other stories too as various narrators or protagonists seem unable to prevent the activity they know will come to no good end for themselves or others.
Another series of stories under the title “The General” begins during the Russian-Japanese War of the early 20th century as we encounter a squad selected for a battle that cannot be won or survived. The following stories of the cycle all show some aspect of the same General who ordered the men on their “glorious” way for their emperor. An interesting view of soldiers thoughts many years before WWII.
I will not attempt to summarize all of the stories here. Suffice it to say that if you enjoy Japanese writing and/or short stories, I think you will enjoy reading these.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Perhaps my favorite is Cogwheels, the final story, which appears to be a somewhat autobiographical tale given that we know the author died by suicide. The first person narrative is immediate, intense, jarring, scary in his increasing lack of control, his growing confusion and self questioning. The descriptions beg for intervention of some kind.
But lack of self control of various kinds is a motif that turns up in other stories too as various narrators or protagonists seem unable to prevent the activity they know will come to no good end for themselves or others.
Another series of stories under the title “The General” begins during the Russian-Japanese War of the early 20th century as we encounter a squad selected for a battle that cannot be won or survived. The following stories of the cycle all show some aspect of the same General who ordered the men on their “glorious” way for their emperor. An interesting view of soldiers thoughts many years before WWII.
I will not attempt to summarize all of the stories here. Suffice it to say that if you enjoy Japanese writing and/or short stories, I think you will enjoy reading these.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
February 11, 2021
This is an interesting collection, albeit not for me. The translation is very well done, but I found the stories very ‘male’ – but then they were written by a man at a time when women were usually considered insignificant. He appears to have had a low opinion of women, although he was married (his wife and children are briefly mentioned – he committed suicide aged 35 when he had three children aged around 15,13 and 10). I could appreciate the writing and style but didn’t like the stories. For example, some people interpret ‘The Spider’s Thread’ as a moral tale saying selfishness is wrong. But I didn’t get that at all. The line “How terribly shameful it all must have seemed, brothers and sisters, in the eyes of Lord Shakyanumi” for example, made me think the opposite – that in fact the story was sneering at Buddha Shakyamuni and Buddhist teachings.
Anyway, regardless of whether or not I liked it, it was horrible to look directly into his mental state via the final story (the frequent name dropping of Dostoevsky made me think he was desperate to be compared to him). It’s terrible that he got to the point where he felt he had to kill himself. The overall feeling I got from his work was that he only ever saw the world in relation to himself, and never others. Perhaps I have totally misinterpreted him, which if so, is unfortunate – but I probably won’t be reading more.
Anyway, regardless of whether or not I liked it, it was horrible to look directly into his mental state via the final story (the frequent name dropping of Dostoevsky made me think he was desperate to be compared to him). It’s terrible that he got to the point where he felt he had to kill himself. The overall feeling I got from his work was that he only ever saw the world in relation to himself, and never others. Perhaps I have totally misinterpreted him, which if so, is unfortunate – but I probably won’t be reading more.
September 19, 2025
Akutagawa references western culture and literature a lot in his work so this mix of Japanese and West makes this rather cosmopolitan. Stylistically I was reminded of other western 1920's work, same feeling.
I liked some of the stories more than others. Not because of the themes because let's admit that murder remains murder but some of the stories flowed much better than others. Although I liked the premise of The General for example, it got rather lost or I did. Murder in the Age of Enlightenment was then tightly told, murder so nicely justified until the final look in the mirror. Hell Screen made me angry as it should have. The truth that some people's self importance takes them to that level is unfortunately true and that is what makes me angry. The Spider's Thread had me just nodding my head, what can you expect. The Grove - was a great one for perspectives, for how truths are different for different people and how finding an absolute single truth in this big jigsaw puzzle is I'd say rather impossible. Cogwheels', deep foreshadowing of Akutagawa's fate left me hopeless and helpless, not a nice feeling but so truly conveyed by Akutagawa himself.
An ARC gently given by the publishers via Netgalley.
I liked some of the stories more than others. Not because of the themes because let's admit that murder remains murder but some of the stories flowed much better than others. Although I liked the premise of The General for example, it got rather lost or I did. Murder in the Age of Enlightenment was then tightly told, murder so nicely justified until the final look in the mirror. Hell Screen made me angry as it should have. The truth that some people's self importance takes them to that level is unfortunately true and that is what makes me angry. The Spider's Thread had me just nodding my head, what can you expect. The Grove - was a great one for perspectives, for how truths are different for different people and how finding an absolute single truth in this big jigsaw puzzle is I'd say rather impossible. Cogwheels', deep foreshadowing of Akutagawa's fate left me hopeless and helpless, not a nice feeling but so truly conveyed by Akutagawa himself.
An ARC gently given by the publishers via Netgalley.
November 23, 2023
This book is a wonderful selection of stories written by Japanese writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892 - 1927). The stories included are: (i) The Spider's Thread; (ii) In a Grove (which later became the basis of Akira Kurosawa's famous film Rashōmon (1950)); (iii) Hell Screen; (iv) Murder in the Age of Enlightenment; (v) The General; (vi) Madonna in Black; and (vii) Cogwheels. Here is what I have to say on -
Murder in the Age of Enlightenment [1918]- ★★★★
This memorable story with a confident prose by the “father” of Japanese short story Akutagawa (Hell Screen [1918]) is told through letter and diary entries written by one young man to Viscount and Viscountess Honda. The story’s unreliable narration that deludes the truth and makes motives questionable introduces us to one hidden obsession as we plunge deep into the psyche of one disturbed man. If Akutagawa’s short story The Spider’s Thread [1918] relied on Dostoyevsky’s story of a woman and an onion from The Brothers Karamazov [1879], here we also see certain close similarities with other works. The story starts close to The Sorrows of Young Werther [1774] by Goethe (unrequited, forbidden and passionate love/drastic action), but finishes very similarly to Doctor Glas [1905] by Hjalmar Söderberg (doctor/mental torment/similar action taken to secure the future of a beloved woman).
Murder in the Age of Enlightenment [1918]- ★★★★
This memorable story with a confident prose by the “father” of Japanese short story Akutagawa (Hell Screen [1918]) is told through letter and diary entries written by one young man to Viscount and Viscountess Honda. The story’s unreliable narration that deludes the truth and makes motives questionable introduces us to one hidden obsession as we plunge deep into the psyche of one disturbed man. If Akutagawa’s short story The Spider’s Thread [1918] relied on Dostoyevsky’s story of a woman and an onion from The Brothers Karamazov [1879], here we also see certain close similarities with other works. The story starts close to The Sorrows of Young Werther [1774] by Goethe (unrequited, forbidden and passionate love/drastic action), but finishes very similarly to Doctor Glas [1905] by Hjalmar Söderberg (doctor/mental torment/similar action taken to secure the future of a beloved woman).
November 15, 2024
We live in a time, thank goodness, when more and more contemporary Japanese literature is available for a wider reading public, thanks to the sterling job of translators around the world. It is useful, then, as we engage with these new voices, to sometimes remember those who blazed a trail before them.
This new collection of 7 of Akutagawa's short stories does include some not included in Jay Rubin's 2006 collection, but it also offers new translations of some of the great stories, in particular Hell Screen and Cogwheels (translated as Spinning Gears by Rubin).
Challenging, universal, enigmatic - these are products of a rare talent and a troubled mind. The last story (Cogwheels/Spinning Gears) is always a tough one to read, the autobiographical nature of the mental torment casting a long shadow over the story.
Another good addition to the work of this great author.
This new collection of 7 of Akutagawa's short stories does include some not included in Jay Rubin's 2006 collection, but it also offers new translations of some of the great stories, in particular Hell Screen and Cogwheels (translated as Spinning Gears by Rubin).
Challenging, universal, enigmatic - these are products of a rare talent and a troubled mind. The last story (Cogwheels/Spinning Gears) is always a tough one to read, the autobiographical nature of the mental torment casting a long shadow over the story.
Another good addition to the work of this great author.
February 4, 2021
Seven stories of wickedness from a popular Japanese writer of the early twentieth century, whose short stories inspired Rashōmon. Reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe and even Fyodor Dostoevsky, these tales feel fresh and clever if a bit exaggerated for our contemporary tastes. Most involve murder and madness; my favorite is the long story "Cogwheels," in which a writer mainly goes around doing extremely ordinary things, and yet as his paranoia escalates, there is a riveting sense of menace to it all. Recommended for fans of Japanese literature and twisty, lurid late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century short fiction.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in advance of publication.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in advance of publication.
December 9, 2024
3.5
Like all short story collections, there are hits and misses. Depressing re the representation of women but unsurprised.
Favourite story was Hell Screen which was genuinely unsettling.
Least liked was The General which was a bit dull and didn't seem to fit the themes of murder, madness and obsession.
I particularly enjoyed how the last story tied things together even if it was a little confusing.
Like all short story collections, there are hits and misses. Depressing re the representation of women but unsurprised.
Favourite story was Hell Screen which was genuinely unsettling.
Least liked was The General which was a bit dull and didn't seem to fit the themes of murder, madness and obsession.
I particularly enjoyed how the last story tied things together even if it was a little confusing.
January 14, 2022
A stirring reminder of the nightmarish power of words. ‘Hell Screen’ and especially ‘Cogwheels’ will haunt me for a while.
August 21, 2022
More reviews at www.booksontour.net
I muss confess that my experience with Japanese literature is quite poor. I have read a couple of Murakami’s books, of course, as well as “Convenience Store Woman” by Murata, and that is more or less all.
So when NetGalley gave me the possibility of reading this one, by an author I have never heard of, I was very excited.
And I can say, that this has been one of my most pleasant bookish discoveries in a long time.
The book presents the reader with seven newly translated “essential stories” by the Japanese writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
Akutagawa belongs to the Neorealism movement that took place at the end of the First World War. The majority of his work consists of short stories and they are a mixture of a kind of magical realism, religion and Japanese idiosyncrasy.
THE FIRST FOUR STORIES
1. The Spider’s Thread: This was my first contact with Akutagawa so I was trying to figure out what was this for a style. The story was a bit confusing because of all the different elements mixed together. This calls for a re-read.
2. In a Grove: It is in essence a detective novel, where a murder happens, and the reader tries to understand what really happened and who the killer is, by the different points of view of the people involved. Immensely interesting.
3. Hell Screen: This one is probably my favourite. The influence I felt the most while reading it, was the one of Edgar Allan Poe. The main character, the painter Yoshihide, is a very wicked man whose only soft point is his daughter. However, he will risk everything which is dear to him in order to achieve perfection in his art. So to speak, “the end justifies the means” elevated to its maximum degree of wickedness. Amazing story, spectacular execution, and beautiful, lyrical language.
4. Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: It gives name to the whole collection. The story is the tale of a man called Kitabatake who, before committing suicide, writes a letter to a couple, telling them of a murder he had committed long time ago which involves the wife. It is interesting to read, (especially knowing that Akutagawa himself committed suicide) but not my favourite. It felt like something was missing.
THE LAST THREE STORIES
5. The General: This one was quite confusing for me and I struggled to get into it. The story mixes different time periods and it has a bigger amount of characters than the previous ones, so I ended up mixing them all and not understanding completely what had happened. The story line explores the horrors and hardships of soldiers during war.
6. Madonna in Black: Another one that I enjoyed a lot. It tells the story of a black Madonna statue which is supposedly cursed. A very interesting mixture of Japanese traditions and Western Religious believes and its influence in the Land of the Rising Sun.
7. Cogwheels: My second favourite. In this one we are basically inside the head of the narrator who, I believe to be Akutagawa himself. This narrator suffers from depression and at least two or three more mental illnesses. We are following him during some days of his life while he attends one of his acquaintances’ wedding and tries to write stories in his hotel room. Knowing, as I now know, how Akutagawa’s life ended, this story feels 100% autobiographical. We are actually reading Akutagawa’s thoughts and struggles, which makes this story the most special of the whole book.
FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT “MURDER IN THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT”
Summing up, I want more ;)
As I said before, unfortunately I didn’t know this author. As it always happens with writers who are not North American or British, they don’t reach the general public, at least this is my feeling.
So I am very happy and grateful to have had the possibility of discovering Akutagawa. As I said before, I can see in him reminiscences of Poe, who is one of my favourite short stories writers. So it is quite logical that I have liked Akutagawa so much.
Furthermore, I have the feeling that writing short stories must not be easy. Every short story contains a whole book in itself. The writer has to make the reader understand a whole story and present all the characters in a very reduced amount of pages. And in my opinion, Akutagawa is a master writing short stories.
His choice of vocabulary, his technique in describing events and characters make reading Akutagawa narrations a real pleasure. The mixture of reality and unreality, of paganism and religion, of western and eastern elements make Akutagawa one of the most special writers I have read lately.
------------------------------
Thanks to the publisher, Pushkin Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of “Murder in the Age of Enlightenment” in exchange for an honest review.
I muss confess that my experience with Japanese literature is quite poor. I have read a couple of Murakami’s books, of course, as well as “Convenience Store Woman” by Murata, and that is more or less all.
So when NetGalley gave me the possibility of reading this one, by an author I have never heard of, I was very excited.
And I can say, that this has been one of my most pleasant bookish discoveries in a long time.
The book presents the reader with seven newly translated “essential stories” by the Japanese writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
Akutagawa belongs to the Neorealism movement that took place at the end of the First World War. The majority of his work consists of short stories and they are a mixture of a kind of magical realism, religion and Japanese idiosyncrasy.
THE FIRST FOUR STORIES
1. The Spider’s Thread: This was my first contact with Akutagawa so I was trying to figure out what was this for a style. The story was a bit confusing because of all the different elements mixed together. This calls for a re-read.
2. In a Grove: It is in essence a detective novel, where a murder happens, and the reader tries to understand what really happened and who the killer is, by the different points of view of the people involved. Immensely interesting.
3. Hell Screen: This one is probably my favourite. The influence I felt the most while reading it, was the one of Edgar Allan Poe. The main character, the painter Yoshihide, is a very wicked man whose only soft point is his daughter. However, he will risk everything which is dear to him in order to achieve perfection in his art. So to speak, “the end justifies the means” elevated to its maximum degree of wickedness. Amazing story, spectacular execution, and beautiful, lyrical language.
4. Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: It gives name to the whole collection. The story is the tale of a man called Kitabatake who, before committing suicide, writes a letter to a couple, telling them of a murder he had committed long time ago which involves the wife. It is interesting to read, (especially knowing that Akutagawa himself committed suicide) but not my favourite. It felt like something was missing.
THE LAST THREE STORIES
5. The General: This one was quite confusing for me and I struggled to get into it. The story mixes different time periods and it has a bigger amount of characters than the previous ones, so I ended up mixing them all and not understanding completely what had happened. The story line explores the horrors and hardships of soldiers during war.
6. Madonna in Black: Another one that I enjoyed a lot. It tells the story of a black Madonna statue which is supposedly cursed. A very interesting mixture of Japanese traditions and Western Religious believes and its influence in the Land of the Rising Sun.
7. Cogwheels: My second favourite. In this one we are basically inside the head of the narrator who, I believe to be Akutagawa himself. This narrator suffers from depression and at least two or three more mental illnesses. We are following him during some days of his life while he attends one of his acquaintances’ wedding and tries to write stories in his hotel room. Knowing, as I now know, how Akutagawa’s life ended, this story feels 100% autobiographical. We are actually reading Akutagawa’s thoughts and struggles, which makes this story the most special of the whole book.
FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT “MURDER IN THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT”
Summing up, I want more ;)
As I said before, unfortunately I didn’t know this author. As it always happens with writers who are not North American or British, they don’t reach the general public, at least this is my feeling.
So I am very happy and grateful to have had the possibility of discovering Akutagawa. As I said before, I can see in him reminiscences of Poe, who is one of my favourite short stories writers. So it is quite logical that I have liked Akutagawa so much.
Furthermore, I have the feeling that writing short stories must not be easy. Every short story contains a whole book in itself. The writer has to make the reader understand a whole story and present all the characters in a very reduced amount of pages. And in my opinion, Akutagawa is a master writing short stories.
His choice of vocabulary, his technique in describing events and characters make reading Akutagawa narrations a real pleasure. The mixture of reality and unreality, of paganism and religion, of western and eastern elements make Akutagawa one of the most special writers I have read lately.
------------------------------
Thanks to the publisher, Pushkin Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of “Murder in the Age of Enlightenment” in exchange for an honest review.
December 5, 2023
“Cogwheel” was probably my favorite. Enough realistic paranoia that even I felt a bit on edge.
Read
January 19, 2023an excellent collection of short stories from the master of the form, akutagawa. 'in a grove' is obviously well known for being one of the inspirations behind kurosawa's rashomon but the more obscure stories were also great — my favourites being 'hell screen' and the titular story. the only one i wasn't as keen on was 'the general'. suffused with horror, stirring with contempt: akutagawa's distinctively dark tone and obsessions imbue his work with an inimitably despairing and hopeless quality.
August 7, 2024
it’s hard to rate a collection of short stories because obviously some are objectively better than others. what I do know is this man lived a sad life. The spiders thread and in a grove are the best ones
January 23, 2021
I've wanted to read something by Akutagawa for a while, so I was pleased when I saw this collection available for request on NetGalley. I really enjoyed the style of the prose, and the stories, which ranged in theme, all had something interesting to say, so that, with the exception of 'The General', which I struggled to get into, I had fun reading them all. These are perfectly crafted short stories that offer just the right balance of plot and character development, and I would certainly be keen to read more of Akutagawa's works in the future. If you are looking to sample works by classic Japanese authors, you will do well to give Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: Essential Stories your attention. Overall it was a 5-star read for me.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
July 5, 2022
A bit of a mixed bag for me, I did not really enjoy most of the stories, but a couple - like The madonna in black and Cogwheels - did stand out for me.
I think if I had known this was bending towards literary fiction my expectations would have been different and perhaps the rating too. However I was under the impression that the madness, murder and obsession mentioned in the blurb, along with the titel, meant this was detective stories, or at the very least stories with a mysery element. They are not. This is more about the human psyche and not so much the intricacies of solving murder.
I think if I had known this was bending towards literary fiction my expectations would have been different and perhaps the rating too. However I was under the impression that the madness, murder and obsession mentioned in the blurb, along with the titel, meant this was detective stories, or at the very least stories with a mysery element. They are not. This is more about the human psyche and not so much the intricacies of solving murder.
April 5, 2021
I bought this at an airport on a whim recently, mostly (embarassingly) inspired to do so by the pretty cover, and I am so glad I did. While many of the stories I could take or leave, 'Hell Screen' has to be one of the best short stories I have ever read, with a fascinating and Poe-esque exploration of realism in art. Cogwheels was also breathtaking, in that it was breathtakingly sad - clearly autobiographical, it speaks of a self loathing and unhappiness that is even more heart breaking given the author's eventual suicide. Happy to be blown away by a lucky find.
April 10, 2022
Rating: 3.75
Reading this collection of short stories, I can see why Akutagawa's writings are still hailed as one of the great Japanese classics. So many great lines and insights within the parables here, and the author's biographical story at the end of this collection wrapped this one up nicely.
Reading this collection of short stories, I can see why Akutagawa's writings are still hailed as one of the great Japanese classics. So many great lines and insights within the parables here, and the author's biographical story at the end of this collection wrapped this one up nicely.
February 6, 2022
„In the Grove” i „Black Madonna” ❤️
January 3, 2024
i loved hell screen and murder in the age of enlightenment but cogwheels was so confusing
January 3, 2025
This collection of short stories was so well written, which such an incredible perspective of different human personalities 10/10 Akutagawa deserves his title
August 6, 2025
Would hate to be an artist
April 7, 2021
Wow, eerie, strange, unsettling and atmospheric. I have always loved reading translated stories especially Japanese tales. This is a beautiful and marvellous collection of stories with what I consider his last story being a sort of goodbye letter. Utterly tragic and beautiful.
July 11, 2024
The stories weren’t bad, it just wasn’t for me. I’m not much of a short story reader so it was definitely an experience. I really liked ‘hell screen’ but for the rest of the short stories it wasn’t something I was used to reading so maybe if I reread it in the future I’ll enjoy it more.
Hell Screen was so interesting because you have a semi(?) tortured artist who quite literally engages in methods of torture to find inspiration. I honestly wouldn’t be mad if the story was longer.
Overall, the collection of stories was pretty interesting; it definitely gives off the vibe that Akutagawa had a lot of intrusive thoughts about death.
Hell Screen was so interesting because you have a semi(?) tortured artist who quite literally engages in methods of torture to find inspiration. I honestly wouldn’t be mad if the story was longer.
Overall, the collection of stories was pretty interesting; it definitely gives off the vibe that Akutagawa had a lot of intrusive thoughts about death.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2025
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's the GOAT.
November 5, 2024
Some of the stories I didn't care for as much as others, but all of them had a very well-done eerie plot. I absolutely loved Hell Screen
January 29, 2021
I always enjoy comparing alternative translations of previously read works. This is a collection of selected short stories by Akutagawa, a Japanese author who has been extensively translated in the past. Since all his works are in a public domain, I frequently encounter his short stories incorporated in anthologies or new editions.
For those who are not familiar with Akutagawa: he is one of the most popular and admired short-story writers from Japan, who has produced an impressive body of work despite his short life (he committed suicide at the age of 35). The most prestigious Japanese literary award is named after him. He has also inspired some other works such as Patient X: The Case-Book of Ryunosuke Akutagawa by David Peace.
This collection comprises of some of the Akutagawa's better known stories translated by Bryan Karetnyk such as In a grove, which became an inspiration for Akira Kurosawa's movie Rashōmon). I found this version a bit confusing, to be honest.
I did enjoy some of the other translations, however, especially the title story and the Cogwheels. In case of the latter, I was quite impressed at how well the mood of the original was conveyed in English: the depression, the darkness and the slow and inevitable descent into madness. The Spider's Thread was also pretty well done.
In few of the stories, unfortunately, despite the translations working on the sentence level, they somehow didn't “flow” as nicely as I would like them to and I sometimes had to backtrack to make sure I knew the person speaking at any given time. I've reread some of the Jay Rubin's translations for comparison, and it is Rubin's version of the Hell Screen that will remain my favorite.
What I did appreciate in the Pushkin's edition is the fact that the reader is spared unnecessary footnotes that often disturb the reading process in the older translations of works translated from Japanese.
Overall, I would encourage those who have not read Akutagawa before to check this collection out.
I have received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
For those who are not familiar with Akutagawa: he is one of the most popular and admired short-story writers from Japan, who has produced an impressive body of work despite his short life (he committed suicide at the age of 35). The most prestigious Japanese literary award is named after him. He has also inspired some other works such as Patient X: The Case-Book of Ryunosuke Akutagawa by David Peace.
This collection comprises of some of the Akutagawa's better known stories translated by Bryan Karetnyk such as In a grove, which became an inspiration for Akira Kurosawa's movie Rashōmon). I found this version a bit confusing, to be honest.
I did enjoy some of the other translations, however, especially the title story and the Cogwheels. In case of the latter, I was quite impressed at how well the mood of the original was conveyed in English: the depression, the darkness and the slow and inevitable descent into madness. The Spider's Thread was also pretty well done.
In few of the stories, unfortunately, despite the translations working on the sentence level, they somehow didn't “flow” as nicely as I would like them to and I sometimes had to backtrack to make sure I knew the person speaking at any given time. I've reread some of the Jay Rubin's translations for comparison, and it is Rubin's version of the Hell Screen that will remain my favorite.
What I did appreciate in the Pushkin's edition is the fact that the reader is spared unnecessary footnotes that often disturb the reading process in the older translations of works translated from Japanese.
Overall, I would encourage those who have not read Akutagawa before to check this collection out.
I have received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
July 17, 2021
After I finished the first story, I realized I had forgotten I read a collection of Akutagawa short stories a year ago. Thankfully, the two collections only shared one story.
At any rate, this time around I got a better sense of the irony and skillful use of the short story format. I enjoyed them pretty well. I can agree with the collection that Akutagawa was a talented writer and these are a good small collection of his stories to start with. And I especially like the cover of this volume. Knowing about the author's life, the last story becomes a rather dour meditation on addiction and mental health.
Side note: this book was one of my first purchases in a bookstore after having avoided them for a year and a half! Truly, what a triumph after such a dolorous age of ordering new books on amazon.
At any rate, this time around I got a better sense of the irony and skillful use of the short story format. I enjoyed them pretty well. I can agree with the collection that Akutagawa was a talented writer and these are a good small collection of his stories to start with. And I especially like the cover of this volume. Knowing about the author's life, the last story becomes a rather dour meditation on addiction and mental health.
Side note: this book was one of my first purchases in a bookstore after having avoided them for a year and a half! Truly, what a triumph after such a dolorous age of ordering new books on amazon.
April 6, 2021
Short Japanese stories, particulars and scary in their own way. I didn't know this author and it was a real good reading.
Storie brevi giapponesi, molto particolari e spaventose a modo loro. Non conoscevo l'autore ed é stata una bella scoperta.
THANKS EDELWEISS FOR THE PREVIEW
Storie brevi giapponesi, molto particolari e spaventose a modo loro. Non conoscevo l'autore ed é stata una bella scoperta.
THANKS EDELWEISS FOR THE PREVIEW
April 6, 2021
A surprisingly (and uncannily) effective translation of Akutagawa's short stories (mostly published between 1918 and 1927), brought to us in English by Prof. Bryan Karetnyk (who has branched out from his usual fare of Russian Émigré literature).
Akutagawa is often compared to Edgar Allan Poe for a couple of reasons, including but not limited to their eerie horror-adjacent short stories and the fact that they both died quite young (Akutaga was about 5 years younger than Poe when he died). I don't think their stories really have much in common besides their creepy atmosphere. Akutagawa's stories capitalize on silence and things that remain unsaid, creating an atmosphere of calm slowly overcome by dread. Poe's characters seem much more alarmed by their surroundings than do Akutagawa's , so the reader makes up the difference.
For anyone new to Akutagawa: don't worry, you've probably come across some of his work before. The most famous short story from this story (at least in the West) is likely "In a Grove," which many cinephiles will recognize as the basis for Akira Kurosawa's movie "Rashomon." (The confusing part is that "Rashomon" is also a short story by Akutagawa, just not the one that inspired the movie, don't ask me why, I'm sure someone knows the answer to this strange switcheroo). The basic idea is that a crime happens in a grove, and each person involved in the story gives a different account of the events that contradicts at least one element of another person's statement. We're left to wonder what, exactly, took place in this lonely grove...
Other stories in the anthology may be familiar to anime enthusiasts or anyone who likes the work of Tomihiko Morimi.
"The Spider's Thread" is a short fable about a Buddha who takes pity on a man condemned to Hell by sending him a single spider thread by which to escape. You may know this story from its shudder-inducing appearance in Kei Sanbe's time-travel thriller "Erased" (Or "Boku dake ga Inai Machi").
Similarly, I was delighted to read the story "Hell Screen," which recounts the life of a painter forced to work for a feudal lord with questionable motives. The narrator assures us at every turn that the lord is good and unjustly maligned by unfounded rumors, but what he describes suggests that the lord is more than cruel, and he has set his sights on the painter's daughter. The painter, pushing his art to the extreme, tortures those around him to capture the perfect expression of pain, all while he loses control of his most beloved child's fate. It's a horrific story that an unreliable narrator gives us drip by drip, until we finally realize we might have been right to suspect something was amiss. (And for anyone who loves Tomihiko Morimi's sequel to "The Eccentric Family" and its anime adaptation, this is a fantastic treat.)
The remaining four stories were completely new to me but still captivating.
"The General" gives us a harrowing portrayal of war, violence, and the thoughts that keep a soldier semi-sane while facing certain death. Until of course the thoughts don't suffice.
"Madonna in Black" was a little hard for me to grasp, but it's an interesting mix of Japanese and Christina beliefs, all with nice coating of unease and morbid curiosity.
"Murder in the Age of Enlightenment"--the story for which the anthology is named--was a great surprise. The narrator takes us through his life of second-guessing and regret, all while he thinks of the woman he failed to marry and the men he hates (or loves) for their roles in her life. And yes, it includes a death or two, or three. I found it to be a very moving story despite its relegation of the love interest to the role of an object with little to no agency. But at least the narrator never takes out his disappointment or ethical conflict on her. (Low bar, but it is a good story.)
The collection closes with one of Akutagawa's final stories, named "Cogwheels." It's a rather disturbing account of a man haunted by hallucinations of moving gears, whose family falls apart around him and cannot comfort him in his sense of isolation and despair. Akutagawa reportedly suffered from similar hallucinations, and it's discomfiting to imagine just how much of his own thoughts he might have written into the narrator.
Overall, if you have any interest in late 19th and early 20th century literature with a creepy atmosphere and a neorealistic style, or if you'd like to read seminal short stories that have inspired many Japanese works of cinema and literature, this a great collection to pick up.
Thank you to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for granting me a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Akutagawa is often compared to Edgar Allan Poe for a couple of reasons, including but not limited to their eerie horror-adjacent short stories and the fact that they both died quite young (Akutaga was about 5 years younger than Poe when he died). I don't think their stories really have much in common besides their creepy atmosphere. Akutagawa's stories capitalize on silence and things that remain unsaid, creating an atmosphere of calm slowly overcome by dread. Poe's characters seem much more alarmed by their surroundings than do Akutagawa's , so the reader makes up the difference.
For anyone new to Akutagawa: don't worry, you've probably come across some of his work before. The most famous short story from this story (at least in the West) is likely "In a Grove," which many cinephiles will recognize as the basis for Akira Kurosawa's movie "Rashomon." (The confusing part is that "Rashomon" is also a short story by Akutagawa, just not the one that inspired the movie, don't ask me why, I'm sure someone knows the answer to this strange switcheroo). The basic idea is that a crime happens in a grove, and each person involved in the story gives a different account of the events that contradicts at least one element of another person's statement. We're left to wonder what, exactly, took place in this lonely grove...
Other stories in the anthology may be familiar to anime enthusiasts or anyone who likes the work of Tomihiko Morimi.
"The Spider's Thread" is a short fable about a Buddha who takes pity on a man condemned to Hell by sending him a single spider thread by which to escape. You may know this story from its shudder-inducing appearance in Kei Sanbe's time-travel thriller "Erased" (Or "Boku dake ga Inai Machi").
Similarly, I was delighted to read the story "Hell Screen," which recounts the life of a painter forced to work for a feudal lord with questionable motives. The narrator assures us at every turn that the lord is good and unjustly maligned by unfounded rumors, but what he describes suggests that the lord is more than cruel, and he has set his sights on the painter's daughter. The painter, pushing his art to the extreme, tortures those around him to capture the perfect expression of pain, all while he loses control of his most beloved child's fate. It's a horrific story that an unreliable narrator gives us drip by drip, until we finally realize we might have been right to suspect something was amiss. (And for anyone who loves Tomihiko Morimi's sequel to "The Eccentric Family" and its anime adaptation, this is a fantastic treat.)
The remaining four stories were completely new to me but still captivating.
"The General" gives us a harrowing portrayal of war, violence, and the thoughts that keep a soldier semi-sane while facing certain death. Until of course the thoughts don't suffice.
"Madonna in Black" was a little hard for me to grasp, but it's an interesting mix of Japanese and Christina beliefs, all with nice coating of unease and morbid curiosity.
"Murder in the Age of Enlightenment"--the story for which the anthology is named--was a great surprise. The narrator takes us through his life of second-guessing and regret, all while he thinks of the woman he failed to marry and the men he hates (or loves) for their roles in her life. And yes, it includes a death or two, or three. I found it to be a very moving story despite its relegation of the love interest to the role of an object with little to no agency. But at least the narrator never takes out his disappointment or ethical conflict on her. (Low bar, but it is a good story.)
The collection closes with one of Akutagawa's final stories, named "Cogwheels." It's a rather disturbing account of a man haunted by hallucinations of moving gears, whose family falls apart around him and cannot comfort him in his sense of isolation and despair. Akutagawa reportedly suffered from similar hallucinations, and it's discomfiting to imagine just how much of his own thoughts he might have written into the narrator.
Overall, if you have any interest in late 19th and early 20th century literature with a creepy atmosphere and a neorealistic style, or if you'd like to read seminal short stories that have inspired many Japanese works of cinema and literature, this a great collection to pick up.
Thank you to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for granting me a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
November 16, 2025
Originally published at: https://zachgeorge1993.substack.com/p...
Back in 2021, I read the Penguin Classics Deluxe edition of Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories translated by Jay Rubin. This was the first “real” Japanese literature I read outside of someone with a westernized aesthetic like Murakami. That summer I would go on to read Abe, Tanizaki, and Rampo. It was a literary revelation for me, but I was always a bit disappointed by the Akutagawa collection. Akutagawa is most famous in the west for providing the source material for Kurosawa’s Rashomon (Kurosawa used Akutagawa’s “Rashomon” as the frame story, and “In a Grove” as the main plot). But a lot of the stories were literary fairy tales as opposed to the modernist suspense stories I was expecting, and I came away a bit disappointed. This past summer a new “Essential” collection of Akutagawa stories was published by Tuttle and translated by Richard Medhurst, and earlier in 2021, Pushkin Press put out their own “Essential” collection translated by Brian Karetnyk. Both collections contain some overlap with the Penguin edition (especially the Pushkin Press edition), but the Tuttle is about 3/4 never before translated stories and even the Pushkin has three newly translated stories. If you want to read them all you have to get the three different editions. Start with Rubin, then Tuttle, then Pushkin. There’s also another “Essential” collection from the mid-20th century which contains an introduction by J.L. Borges that’s out of print.
Like a lot of great world writers of the fantastic (Hoffmann, Gogol, etc) there’s no definitive one-volume translation of all their essential stories. They’re spread out over several volumes, or if there is a one volume translation, it’s out of print and prohibitively expensive (I won’t say how much I spent on the Tartarus edition of Hoffmann’s horror stories). The different translations also reveal a flaw in the project of translating non-English works that weird fiction author Quentin S. Crisp has brought up, namely that they can never really capture the spirit of the originals. The Tuttle translation by Medhurst really exemplifies this, because despite being overall very readable, there’s also a lot of awkward phrasing. If I were going to release a new comprehensive translation of Akutagawa’s works, I would do it in two volumes: Volume 1 being his literary fairy tales, and Volume 2 being his Dostoevskian stories of psychological horror, crime, and suspense.
I enjoyed reading Akutagawa much more this time around since I’ve gotten more into literary fairy tales after reading the Penguin Classics Deluxe edition of H.C. Andersen’s fairy tales earlier this year. On the surface these fairy tales are deceptively simple, but contain a great deal of deadpan humor and irony, a sense of wonder, and even some grotesque horror. Akutagawa’s best work, however, are his suspense stories he wrote as his mental health started to nosedive. Like Maupassant’s tales of terror, and Dostoevsky’s short novels, these stories are elegant, dizzying, and claustrophobic. Cogwheels owes a lot to a work like Notes from Underground while also being its own substantive work in its own right. I can’t recommend these three volumes highly enough.
Back in 2021, I read the Penguin Classics Deluxe edition of Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories translated by Jay Rubin. This was the first “real” Japanese literature I read outside of someone with a westernized aesthetic like Murakami. That summer I would go on to read Abe, Tanizaki, and Rampo. It was a literary revelation for me, but I was always a bit disappointed by the Akutagawa collection. Akutagawa is most famous in the west for providing the source material for Kurosawa’s Rashomon (Kurosawa used Akutagawa’s “Rashomon” as the frame story, and “In a Grove” as the main plot). But a lot of the stories were literary fairy tales as opposed to the modernist suspense stories I was expecting, and I came away a bit disappointed. This past summer a new “Essential” collection of Akutagawa stories was published by Tuttle and translated by Richard Medhurst, and earlier in 2021, Pushkin Press put out their own “Essential” collection translated by Brian Karetnyk. Both collections contain some overlap with the Penguin edition (especially the Pushkin Press edition), but the Tuttle is about 3/4 never before translated stories and even the Pushkin has three newly translated stories. If you want to read them all you have to get the three different editions. Start with Rubin, then Tuttle, then Pushkin. There’s also another “Essential” collection from the mid-20th century which contains an introduction by J.L. Borges that’s out of print.
Like a lot of great world writers of the fantastic (Hoffmann, Gogol, etc) there’s no definitive one-volume translation of all their essential stories. They’re spread out over several volumes, or if there is a one volume translation, it’s out of print and prohibitively expensive (I won’t say how much I spent on the Tartarus edition of Hoffmann’s horror stories). The different translations also reveal a flaw in the project of translating non-English works that weird fiction author Quentin S. Crisp has brought up, namely that they can never really capture the spirit of the originals. The Tuttle translation by Medhurst really exemplifies this, because despite being overall very readable, there’s also a lot of awkward phrasing. If I were going to release a new comprehensive translation of Akutagawa’s works, I would do it in two volumes: Volume 1 being his literary fairy tales, and Volume 2 being his Dostoevskian stories of psychological horror, crime, and suspense.
I enjoyed reading Akutagawa much more this time around since I’ve gotten more into literary fairy tales after reading the Penguin Classics Deluxe edition of H.C. Andersen’s fairy tales earlier this year. On the surface these fairy tales are deceptively simple, but contain a great deal of deadpan humor and irony, a sense of wonder, and even some grotesque horror. Akutagawa’s best work, however, are his suspense stories he wrote as his mental health started to nosedive. Like Maupassant’s tales of terror, and Dostoevsky’s short novels, these stories are elegant, dizzying, and claustrophobic. Cogwheels owes a lot to a work like Notes from Underground while also being its own substantive work in its own right. I can’t recommend these three volumes highly enough.
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